26 Chapter 26 Proposal
Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
In the following days, Jiang Feng would cook the porridge in advance every evening, store it in the freshness box, and have Ji Yue deliver it to Professor Li the next day. Ji Yue was none the wiser, thinking that the porridge was made by Jiang Jiankang.
Initially, Jiang Feng didn’t trust the game’s freshness box, which looked just like an ordinary foam box. However, to his surprise, it really did have a magical function to keep things warm and fresh. No matter how long the food was stored inside, it would come out unchanged, which felt like black technology.
Truly a godsend for the takeout industry.
Zhang Wei’s WeChat official account was ready, and he taught Jiang Feng hands-on how to operate it. He even posted on his Moments to help promote the account, but unfortunately, the effect was far from satisfactory.
Although Ji Yue would recommend customers to scan and follow the WeChat account when ordering, and the QR code was posted on the tables, it still didn’t gain much traction.
The classmates from his class were quite supportive, with everyone following the account and many helping to share and promote it, becoming the main force of the takeout service. But after three days, the followers just barely passed the halfway mark.
It seemed that every task of Jiang Feng’s had hit a bottleneck, with no significant progress.
Having a rare free Saturday, and with most UAL University students preferring to stay in their dorms and live on takeout, the business was much slower, giving everyone a bit of leisure.
The club recruitment was next week, and the Chess Club, suffering from insufficient membership, hadn’t even secured an activity room, with pitifully little funding. Moreover, if they couldn’t trick a few new members this year, they feared they would be mercilessly disbanded by the student union.
Without an activity room, they’d make one themselves. Since the restaurant wasn’t busy on the weekend, all the Chess Club members gathered together at the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant’s second floor to brainstorm novel ways to attract freshmen’s attention at the upcoming club recruitment.
Together with Jiang Feng and the newly joined Liu Qian, there were nine people in the Chess Club, not one fewer, all gathered at the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant. Even the former president, Ji Yue, joined the discussion, worried about the club’s future.
“Since when did our club gain a new member? Which major are you from, classmate?” He Jiahui, a senior student from the fine arts department, should have left the club a long time ago. She stayed only because the club struggled to recruit new members.
!!..
“I’m Liu Qian, a sophomore from the Chinese literature department.” Liu Qian hadn’t joined any club in her freshman year, so this first-time club activity felt fresh to her.
He Jiahui, a direct junior under Ji Yue, knew about chess only to the extent of “knights move in an L-shape and elephants move diagonally.” She was completely conned into joining the club by Ji Yue back in the day.
“He, you really don’t pay much attention to our club’s affairs,” Qiu Chen said, feeling the need to stand up and speak as the vice president. “How could you not know about such a big thing as our club getting new members? Didn’t I tag everyone in the group chat before? Also, Chen, Zhao, Feng, it must be your first time coming to their family’s restaurant, right?”
Zhao Linling put down her phone when she heard her name mentioned.
She and Chen Mengxing were both law seniors.
“We wanted to support this place too, but as seniors with internships, it’s been hard finding a law firm, and we’ve been working overtime every day to the point of losing our hair, so there’s no time to go out to eat!” Zhao Linling couldn’t help but protest her innocence.
“Yeah, I’ve been busy looking for internships too!” added He Jiahui in her defense.
No sooner had He Jiahui finished speaking than Jiang Feng and Ji Yue came up with plum drinks. The drinks were freshly taken out of the fridge and condensed with mist on the glasses, looking quite attractive paired with the amber-colored plum drink.
“He, have you found an internship yet?” Jiang Feng offered her a plum drink.
“Not yet, us art students are unemployed before we even graduate!” He Jiahui took the plum drink, took a big gulp, and her eyes lit up, eager to swallow it down.
“Wow, junior, where do you buy this plum drink from? What brand? It’s really good, I want to get some too!”
“My dad made it,” said Jiang Feng, as he and Ji Yue handed out the plum drinks to everyone.
“Thank you, president,” Liu Qian said cheerfully as she took the plum drink.
“Did you all come up with anything? The club will be disbanded if it doesn’t reach 12 members,” Ji Yue asked.
“Not yet, don’t worry so much, sister! There’s always a way where there’s a will. If needed, we could send junior to hustle a couple of newbies from his college. What if he manages to do it? See, we haven’t even started recruiting and he already hustled… Liu, Liu Qian to join!” He Jiahui appeared very laissez-faire, finishing her plum drink in a few gulps, “Junior, another one please!”
“Don’t drink too much chilled stuff,” Ji Yue advised, turning his gaze to the more reliable-looking Chen Mengxing, “Mengxing, you recruited Jiang Feng and Qiu Chen back then. What should we do for recruitment this year?”
“There’s no more plum drink, how about some mung bean drink?” Jiang Feng offered.
He Jiahui nodded repeatedly, and Liu Qian quickly added, “President, I want some too!”
Jiang Feng went down to fetch the mung bean drinks for them.
“We could hand out flyers. If all else fails, like He Jiahui suggested, we’ll pull people from our own department’s freshmen. They don’t know any better, so if we can deceive one, that’s one gained, and later we’ll tell them they can only leave the club after three months,” said Chen Mengxing who didn’t have many options.
“Great idea!” echoed He Jiahui, Ji Yue, and Zhao Linling in unison.
The newbie Liu Qian was dumbstruck.
“Why can’t we use some normal promotional methods, like telling everyone that Chess Club members get a ten percent discount at the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, and there are also club benefits, like free plum juice or mung bean soup?” asked Liu Qian.
“How could anyone join a meaningless club that doesn’t have funding or contribute to extra credit just for a ten percent discount on food? UAL University stipulates that each person can only join one club,” Liu Zixuan retorted.
Liu Qian silently looked at him.
All of a sudden, Liu Zixuan froze, as if struck by a heavy blow.
Zhao Yang and Zhao Yu, who were both in a half-dazed state, simultaneously turned their gazes towards Liu Qian.
“What… what’s wrong?” He Jiahui was somewhat confused, not understanding why the air had suddenly quieted.
“Our Liu junior joined the Chess Club just for the food discount!” Qiu Chen exclaimed, slapping the table.
“Is it really that delicious?” He Jiahui asked incredulously.
“It really is that delicious,” Ji Yue nodded solemnly. Just at that moment, Jiang Feng arrived with the mung bean soup. Ji Yue, looking at Jiang Feng, wore a face of contentment. “Jiang Feng, I knew I hadn’t misjudged you. Trusting the Chess Club to you was definitely the right decision!”
“What?” Jiang Feng said, looking bewildered.
“Keep it up, the future of the Chess Club is relying on you!” Ji Yue patted Jiang Feng on the shoulder.
Qiu Chen relayed Liu Qian’s suggestion to Jiang Feng. After hearing it, Jiang Feng paused for a moment, then said, “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
Once in the restroom, Jiang Feng opened up his attribute panel to check on the progress of his main quest.
Main Quest:
1. “Stand Firm”: Achieve recognition from 1000 diners for the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant, quest progress (34/1000).
Quest Hint: Recognition from diners is crucial for a new establishment. Please ensure that the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant becomes the number one restaurant in the minds of many diners at UAL University.
Quest Reward: Unknown.
So far, the Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant had gained the approval of only 34 customers, with Liu Qian definitely being one of them. But of these 34 customers, how many had never joined a club? And among those not in a club, how many would be willing to join the Chess Club just for a ten percent food discount, like Liu Qian?
Liu Qian’s suggestion was indeed a good method.
However, it required a bit of ruthlessness.
When Jiang Feng returned to the private room, the group was conversing excitedly. Zhao Linling was complaining to everyone about her increasingly thinning hair, which even the legendary “King of Hair Products” could not save.
“Let’s do as Liu Qian suggested. We’ll print flyers to promote the club benefits and the ten percent discount on food. However, for the specific design, we’ll need He junior’s expertise,” Jiang Feng said.
“No problem, I will design it to be upscale and classy, so that no one will be able to tell that the Chess Club is a club that can’t even secure funding,” He Jiahui assured Jiang Feng with an ‘ok’ gesture.
“We should still advertise in the freshman group chat, and that’s where we’ll need Zhao and Chen,” Jiang Feng continued.
Zhao Linling and Chen Mengxing also signaled their ‘ok’.
“The rest will require some hard work. The setup, presentation, and distribution of flyers during recruitment days all depend on you guys,” Jiang Feng added.
“Presentation? What kind of presentation?” asked Liu Qian.
“My family’s restaurant is new, with not much fame or attraction yet, so naturally, we need to prepare some pastries and drinks for tasting to attract freshmen,” explained Jiang Feng.
“Pastries? Your uncle knows how to make pastries?” Liu Zixuan asked curiously. The Healthy Stir-fry Restaurant didn’t sell pastries.
“My great-uncle does,” Jiang Feng replied with a victorious smile.
Despite appearances, Jiang Jianguo was more than just a tailor. In fact, he had inherited at least seventy percent of the skills of the old Sir, Jiang Weiguo. Moreover, to woo Auntie, he had perfected pastries to a magnificent and lifelike degree.
The students of UAL University were in for a treat.